Van driver 'wanted to kill more'

Karina Menzies was killed by hit-and-run driver Matthew Tvrdon in Cardiff in October (South Wales Police/PA

A driver who mowed down a mother-of-three in a three ton van intended killing at least six strangers he imagined were bullying and plotting against him.

Matthew Tvrdon, 32, sped through a Cardiff suburb, in south Wales, seeing only people he believed had conspired to undermine his mental health.

In 30 minutes of hit-and-run bedlam he targeted five separate family groups in the city's Ely and Leckwith districts with murderous intent.

All were strangers walking along sections of pavement peacefully oblivious to the carnage Tvrdon was about to wreak.

Karina Menzies, 31, was knocked down, dragged along and repeatedly run over by a ferocious Tvrdon at the wheel of his Iveco van. The heroic mother threw her daughters to safety in a dramatic final act before she was killed on October 19 last year.

A crippling nerve condition meant she could not run away and was run down and killed before horrified witnesses outside Ely Fire Station. The devastating 30 minutes of carnage was carried out over almost eight miles and left Tvrdon with little recollection of what he had done.

Weeks after killing one and injuring or seriously harming 17 others he still believed he had been manipulated to act as he did, a court heard.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court was told how paranoid psychotic Tvrdon had been convinced he was being bullied and manipulated.

Tvrdon appeared at the hearing via videolink from Ashworth high security psychiatric hospital in Maghull, Merseyside. Earlier a charge of manslaughter through diminished responsibility in relation to Ms Menzies death was accepted by the prosecution. Tvrdon pleaded not guilty to her murder.

Also accepted were guilty pleas to seven charges of attempted murder, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent (GBH) and two of attempting to cause GBH. Tvrdon also pleaded guilty to five counts of causing actual bodily harm, one of common assault and one of dangerous driving.